Live Review: John Talabot w/ Tyler Morrison at Q Nightclub 2/11/14

Is it any wonder that Spanish electronic wunderkind John Talabot kept Q Nightclub packed beyond reasonable comfort until 1:30am on a rainy Tuesday night in Seattle? No. Absolutely not. Talabot has some kind of insane black magic power over the groove in a room and can keep nearly 300 people dancing until dawn even when not a soul recognizes a single song. Was some of Talabot’s phenomenal debut LP fIN in there? Probably, but nobody was keeping track. The room was too packed and the vibe was too awesome to have any sort of personal pretense. Together with Seattle’s own Tyler Morrison, the evening was one for the books. Once again, Sean Horton has put on a spectacle of a Decibel show.

Tyler Morrison warmed the crowd up for the first couple hours. As the numbers in the room built, so did the beat. From a mostly atmospheric heartbeat up to a progressive house roar, Morrison kept things pretty organic Tuesday night, creating a pretty excellent synthesis between the dance floor and the table. Morrison’s mixes are great (if you haven’t heard them, check out his Soundcloud), and they created a near-perfect foundation for Talabot to build on. It also helps that Morrison brought the room from about 10 to 200+ people. Altogether, an excellent opening set that racked up quite the bar tab – can’t ask for much more.

Tyler Morrison:

Tonight was (if I’m counting correctly) John Talabot‘s third Seattle appearance. He made his Emerald City debut at Decibel Festival two years ago along with Pional, who supplied vocals and some extra help on the machinery for Talabot’s live set. The second time was opening for the xx at the Paramount Theater – a most excellent pairing giving this budding artist some wonderful exposure. But for this third appearance, we get to see Talabot in a new light: his DJ set. There’s something about John Talabot’s vibe that you can’t put into words. Sure, on his original work on fIN, you can chalk it up to his own unique sound, made up of driving (but never overpowering) house beats and entirely unorthodox melodic instrumentation on top. But for his DJ sets, Talabot is an equally intriguing and puzzling endeavor. It’s no wonder at all that his DJ-Kicks collection from last year was so universally lauded. His use of space and pacing and groove are entirely his own thing – he takes very few hints from his contemporaries. All of this combines to make for one hell of a set. Time flew by as the grooves kept coming and the dance floor packed out more and more. As far as anyone at Q on Tuesday night is concerned, Talabot is welcome back to Seattle any time he pleases. We can’t wait to see what this progressive young voice in electronic music shows us next.